Poems of Manabendra Bandyopadhyay

Manabendra is mainly known in both Bengals as a great translator of poetry, introducing the Bangali reader to different poetic voices from various parts of the world. Poetry from Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, west Asia, and Eastern Europe, among other regions, reached us through his unceasing dedication to ‘world literature’ and poetry of resistance and dissent. His translations tried to offer the reader a directly poetic, rather than mediated, experience of other spaces, and it takes a little effort to remember when we read them that they were not written in Bangla. To achieve this effect Manabendra used a master craftsman’s skills in Bangla language, metrics and rhythms. Where needed he innovated in the language and the styles creating, what I would call, a new kind of Bangla poetry, a gift to fellow poets and readers. But, most importantly, what needs to be stressed is that he could not do this if he himself were not a remarkable poet. He left us a body of notable self-authored literature, most notable among them are his books of poems. These books are taste-changing and amazing reading experiences, unlike anything else that passes as poetry in Bangla poetic aesthetic. His idea of what makes a poem, of what can be simultaneously poeticised and politicised, was unique to him and thoroughly iconoclastic. He attempted to expand our idea of poetry and broadened its meaning to introduce certain kinds of emotions, intellectual positions and a materialism all of which are generally considered unpoetic. In fact he performed the task that Hans Magnus Ensenzberger, a German